City fights rumors with facts

KINGMAN – The City of Kingman has recently started to address local rumors on its website and here are a few misconceptions heard throughout town the City wants to debunk.

The first rumor squashed by the City is that Kingman charges a food tax. Food having to be prepared before consumption falls under the category of food for home consumption, for which a tax doesn’t exist in Kingman.

“There may be confusion regarding a food tax because a restaurant and bar tax is charged on certain food items sold at grocery stores and convenience stores,” the City’s website states. “Deli items, for instance, are taxed using the restaurant and bar tax rate. Food that does not have to be prepared in order to be consumed on or off premise falls under the restaurant and bar tax rate category.

Speaking of taxes not levied by the City, there is no property tax assessed, at least on the part of the City of Kingman. However, according to the City’s website, citizens do pay a property tax to taxing authorities such as the county and school district.

Perhaps of the most import is a circulating rumor that the City of Kingman, in its official capacity, “fought” the Responsible Sales and Use Tax Act initiative. The City’s website specifically addresses litigation on the issue regarding the number of collected signatures needed to put the initiative on the general election ballot.

“The City of Kingman did not begin litigation against the initiative process. In fact, the City said that there were enough signatures to move forward with the initiative,” the website states. “The county rejected the signatures that caused their threshold to go below the required number. Due to strict time constraints, the City Attorney’s Office then retained outside counsel to be able to defend the City’s position.”

The City of Kingman “Rumors” page can be accessed at https://www.cityofkingman.gov/.